Roberto Alagna
Roberto Alagna |
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Roberto Alagna (born June 7, 1963) is a French operatic tenor.
Alagna was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. His family of Sicilian immigrants was very musically talented.[citation needed] As a teenager the young Alagna began busking and singing pop in Parisian cabarets for tips. Influenced primarily by the films of Mario Lanza, but also from recordings of many historic tenors, he then switched to opera. He is largely self-taught as a singer, but he learned most of the tenor repertory from Cuban contrabassist and opera fan Rafael Ruiz.
After winning the Luciano Pavarotti Voice Competition, Alagna made his professional debut in 1988 as Alfredo Germont in La Traviata with the Glyndebourne touring company. This led to many engagements throughout the smaller cities in France and Italy, mainly again as Alfredo, a role he would eventually sing over 150 times. His reputation grew and he was soon invited to sing at major theaters such as La Scala (again as Alfredo, under the baton of Riccardo Muti) in 1990, Covent Garden in 1992 and the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in La bohème. His performances of Romeo in Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod at Covent Garden in 1994 catapulted him to international stardom.
Alagna has a particular affinity for French opera and more lyric Italian roles, although some observers are worried about his taking on of progressively heavier Italian repertory, such as the title role in Otello . He is also devoted to unearthing French and Italian operatic rarities and showing them to a new audience.[citation needed]
Alagna's first wife, Florence Lancien, died of a brain tumor in 1994; they had one daughter, Ornella, who was born in 1992. In 1996 he married soprano Angela Gheorghiu. The couple have sung together often onstage and have made many recordings together both of duets and arias and complete operas. The two singers also starred in a film version of Puccini's Tosca directed by French film director Benoît Jacquot.
Alagna opened the 2006-07 season at La Scala on December 7, 2006 in the new production of Aida by Franco Zeffirelli. During the second performance (Dec. 10, 2006), Alagna, whose opening performance was considered ill-at-ease, was "booed" and "whistled" by the loggione (opera fans who sit in the less-expensive seats at the very back of the Scala), and walked off the stage. The tenor's reaction to his public criticism was denounced as immature and unprofessional by La Scala management and Zeffirelli, who said, “A professional should never behave in this way. Alagna is too sensitive, it is too easy to hurt his feelings. He does not know how to act like a true star.”[2] The role of Radames was taken over successfully for the rest of the performance by his understudy Antonello Palombi, who entered on stage wearing jeans and a black shirt.[1][2].